Prospects for Water Management in Kazakhstan

Jun 14, 2017 08:36 AMMichelle Grieder

Kazakhstan faces several issues concerning water resources, including the state’s policy on water resources and water usage. Trade Point Kazakhstan has documented the current problems in this industry, highlighting a variety of business opportunities for Swiss companies.

Kazakhstan’s current situation establishes potential for Swiss companies working in the spheres of:

Problems in water management in Kazakhstan

Most efforts on deficit prevention are mainly aimed at infrastructure development, and not at water demand reduction. Compared to other states, Kazakhstan requires three times more water per dollar of Gross Domestic Product than Russia or the USA, and six times more than Australia. The high water consumption is due to scarce investment in water infrastructure and water management. This results in an extremely high loss of water, which is especially driven by the agricultural sector.

Furthermore, the existing tariff system is not able to cover the operational costs and governmental record-keeping of water facilities, which, combined with the lack of a common information database of water bodies, results in the inefficient use of water resources in Kazakhstan.

Possible business opportunities for Swiss companies

In general, exporters who want to enter Kazakhstan’s market in the sphere of water resources should consider that the major customer in Kazakhstan is the government, and the second most important customers are development banks. Therefore, it is necessary to work in the areas recognized as priority areas by governmental programs.

Find more information on water management in Kazakhstan in the report linked in the section below.